A US Republican Senator who met George W Bush earlier today has told reporters that the US President has decided to send about 20,000 more US troops to Iraq.
'It was clear to me that a decision has been made for a surge of, I suppose, 20,000 additional troops,' Senator Gordon Smith of Oregon told reporters in a telephone conference call after a White House meeting.
Senator Smith said the president had told him and several other senators that the plan for the additional troops had originated with Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
Mr Maliki had made commitments that the Iraqi government and military would take steps to strengthen security in exchange for more US troops, Smith said.
Mr Bush is continuing briefings this week ahead of the delivery of his new strategy for Iraq.
It is reported that the US president plans to deliver the strategy in a speech on Wednesday night (1am Thursday Irish time).
Earlier, the speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, warned Mr Bush over the reported plans to send additional troops to Iraq.
Ms Pelosi insisted that Mr Bush will have to convince the Democrat-controlled Congress why more money should be put towards the war.
She said the burden was on Mr Bush to justify any additional spending on the nearly four-year-old war.
Trial of Saddam co-defendants resumes
In Iraq, the trial of six former officials for genocide and crimes against humanity resumed in Baghdad today, nine days after the execution of Saddam Hussein.
All face charges relating to the Anfal campaign, a 1988 military operation against ethnic Kurds in which an alleged 180,000 people were killed.
The charges against the former Iraqi leader were formally dropped during Judge Mohammed al-Ureybi's first order of business this morning.
Judge Ureybi told the court that, following the hanging of Saddam Hussein, the remaining charges against him were being dropped in accordance with the Iraqi Penal Procedures Law.
Meanwhile, pressure is mounting on Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to halt the executions of two of Saddam Hussein's officials amid growing international criticism over the way the ousted dictator was executed.
Former secret police chief Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti and revolutionary court judge Awad Ahmed al-Bandar are expected to be hanged within days. Both were found guilty, along with the deposed leader, of executing 148 Shia civilians in Dujail.
However, Human Rights Watch has said the executions would further highlight the Iraqi government's 'disturbing disregard for human rights and the rule of law'.
And UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has also 'strongly urged' the Iraqi government to suspend the executions.
